Malingering of cognitive difficulties constitutes a major issue in psychiatric forensic settings. Here, we present a selective literature review related to the topic of cognitive malingering, psychopathology and their possible connections. Furthermore, we report a single case study of a 60-year-old man with a long and ongoing judicial history who exhibits a suspicious multi-domain neurocognitive disorder with significant reduction of autonomy in daily living, alongside a longtime history of depressive symptoms. Building on this, we suggest the importance of evaluating malingering conditions through both psychiatric and neuropsychological assessment tools. More specifically, the use of Performance Validity Tests (PVTs)-commonly but not quite correctly considered as tests of "malingering"-alongside the collection of clinical history and the use of routine psychometric testing, seems to be crucial in order to detect discrepancies between self-reported patient's symptoms, embedded validity indicators and psychometric results.

A case report and literature review of cognitive malingering and psychopathology

Bosso, Tea
First
;
Vischia, Flavio
;
Keller, Roberto;Vercelli, Alessandro
Last
2022-01-01

Abstract

Malingering of cognitive difficulties constitutes a major issue in psychiatric forensic settings. Here, we present a selective literature review related to the topic of cognitive malingering, psychopathology and their possible connections. Furthermore, we report a single case study of a 60-year-old man with a long and ongoing judicial history who exhibits a suspicious multi-domain neurocognitive disorder with significant reduction of autonomy in daily living, alongside a longtime history of depressive symptoms. Building on this, we suggest the importance of evaluating malingering conditions through both psychiatric and neuropsychological assessment tools. More specifically, the use of Performance Validity Tests (PVTs)-commonly but not quite correctly considered as tests of "malingering"-alongside the collection of clinical history and the use of routine psychometric testing, seems to be crucial in order to detect discrepancies between self-reported patient's symptoms, embedded validity indicators and psychometric results.
2022
13
981475
981483
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9613951/pdf/fpsyt-13-981475.pdf
cognitive malingering; neurocognitive disorder; neuropsychological assessment; performance validity tests (PVTs); psychopathology
Bosso, Tea; Vischia, Flavio; Keller, Roberto; Vai, Daniela; Imperiale, Daniele; Vercelli, Alessandro
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1882443
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